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© Caesars Travel Group www.caesarstravel.com
January - March Page 1
F ollowing close on the heels of the now-
grounded Jet Airways, the resignation of its
CFO, Amit Agarwal’s, and just days after lenders
were slow to secure funds to save India’s oldest
private carrier, a similar fate has met the
financially-strapped CEO, Vinay Dube.
Dube resigned due to “personal reasons” in a
statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange
Tuesday.
In March, the airline’s founder, Naresh Goyal,
was forced to cede control of Jet Airways, which
eventually forced the airline to suspend all
operations on April 17 due to the crushing weight
of over US$1 billion in debt and payment
defaults to both banks and its aircraft lease-
holders.
Jilted stakeholders left holding the $1.2 billion-
dollar Jet Airways bag, including the State Bank
of India bank (who lent the stricken airline
money to stay afloat), as well as Jet Airways’
employees (who haven’t been paid in three
months), and ticket-holding customers and
several third-party private investors.
Abu Dhabi-based carrier, Etihad Airways, came
out as the sole bidder in the first round of bidding
on May 10 but did not come without strings
attached- expressing concerns over the Indian
carrier’s increasing liabilities and impending
dismantlement.
“Etihad Airways confirmed its interest to re-
invest in a minority stake in India’s Jet Airways,
subject to conditions,” it said in a May 10
statement.
“Etihad re-emphasizes that it cannot be expected
to be the sole investor, and that, amongst other
requirements, additional suitable investors would
need to provide the majority of Jet Airways’
required recapitalization.”
Although a once-hopeful prospect, Etihad’s bid
produced a few furrowed brows amongst industry
experts, expressing concern over its current $4.8
billion worth of losses over the past three years
and the carrier’s efforts to secure loans
somewhere in the vicinity of $600 million for
future aircraft acquisitions.
Seen more as a distraction rather than beacon of
economic hope in what was to be an
underwhelming bidding process to save Jet
Airways, business and aviation writer Ajay
Awtaney explains, “in this situation, it is a
distraction, both from a strategy and capital
allocation perspective, for Etihad Airways to be
focusing on fixing another airline, while they
should be busy mending their own house to
reclaim their former glory.”
Etihad currently owns 24% in Jet Airways and,
under the current rule, can take its stake up to a
maximum of 49%.
News Courtesy : https://airwaysmag.com
JET AIRWAYS: UNCERTAIN FUTURE, DISSOLVING LEADERSHIP, WEAK FUNDING OFFERS
D emand for global air freight inched toward
growth with a 0.1 per cent increase in
March year-on-year, after a four-month
contraction, but faces headwinds from a weaker
global economy and shrinking trade volumes.
Middle East airlines outpaced global air freight
demand growth in March, the International Air
Transport Association (IATA) said in a report.
Regional carriers posted an increase in air freight
volumes of 1.3 per cent in March compared to
the prior year period though demand was
outstripped by capacity growth of 3.8 per cent.
The return to growth in global air freight in
March 'is an encouraging development...but the
headwinds from weakening global trade, growing
trade tensions and shrinking order books have not
gone away', Alexandre de Juniac, IATA's
director general and chief executive, said.
IATA's concerns echo the International
Monterary Fund's warning last month that the
global economy is slowing more than expected,
prompting it to cut its forecast for world
economic growth this year. In its third
downgrade since October, the IMF said the
global economy will likely grow 3.3 per cent this
year, the slowest expansion since 2016. The
forecast cut 0.2 percentage points from the IMF’s
outlook in January.
Global air freight's marginal growth in March is
an improvement over the 4.9 per cent decline in
February but in seasonally-adjusted terms,
demand is still down 1.5 per cent over the past
year, IATA said.
Freight capacity, measured in available freight
tonne kilometers, rose 3.1 per cent in March year
-on-year and outstripped demand for 11 out of
the last 12 months.
All regions posted growth in air cargo demand in
March year-on year except for Asia-Pacific,
while Africa showed the fastest growth globally.
Asia-Pacific carriers posted a 3.4 per cent decline
in March because of weaker manufacturing
conditions for exporters in the region, ongoing
trade tensions and a slowing of the Chinese
economy. The performance in March was a
'significant improvement' from the 12 per cent
drop in February.
African airlines grew six per cent in March from
a year ago, the fastest pace among all regions,
while capacity rose 15.2 per cent.
North American carriers saw demand increase by
0.4 per cent during the month, partly due to a
slowdown in US domestic economic activity at
the end of 2018 and falling global trade volumes.
However, a rise in new export orders could
support air cargo growth.
European carriers saw a 3.6 per cent increase in
freight demand, a 'positive outcome', given
uncertainty over Brexit and weaker
manufacturing conditions for exporters in
Germany, IATA said.
Airlines in Latin America posted a 3.6 per cent
increase in air cargo demand as the Brazilian
economy recovers from a recession. However,
ongoing economic and political uncertainties in
Venezuela continue to present a challenge.
The industry's confidence in the outlook for the
year remains upbeat, with 13 per cent expecting
to see a decrease in freight volumes in 2019
compared to last year, according to IATA’s
Business Confidence Survey.
News Courtesy : http://q8dailynews.com
Demand for global air freight returns to growth
© Caesars Travel Group www.caesarstravel.com
January - March Page 2
Editorial
Corporate Arena
The changing face of business travel: What’s
the future like?
The impact of technology on travel agents,
including the availability of personal computers,
cell phones and the Internet, has been significant.
While many travel agents have had to change the
way they do business, travel agencies are still
thriving and providing important services to both
leisure and business travelers.
A major chunk of revenue continues to come
from commissions and service fees. But the
source of these commissions has been changing
over the years. When airlines stopped paying
high commissions back in the 1990s, travel
agents started to lean heavily on add-on services
such as hotel and transport for commissions.
At present, travel agents depend on two
categories of travelers for their revenue. A good
number of corporate business travelers still rely
on partner agencies for their tickets. In the
consumer segment, holiday packages and custom
itinerary planning services have been taking off
with an increase in international holidaying. The
drop in commissions is mostly made up for by
the corresponding rise in the scale and value of
such bookings.
This is however not a long-term fix. A number of
startup online itinerary planning services are
already making a mark and a number of OTAs
today offer holiday packages on their websites.
The travel agency industry is already in
consolidation mode with larger players
constantly acquiring smaller and niche TAs to
increase market share. The future of the travel
agent depends on innovation.
Adding value
Over the past three decades, the business model
of the travel agent has merely been to identify
and focus on channels that have not been
disrupted by new tech. When airline
commissions disappeared, agents moved to taxi
and hotel booking, and when they got disrupted,
they set their eyes on package tours. But this is
not likely to last long.
One of the best ways to survive disruption is by
reinventing your model and adding value. The
average traveler is beset with a number of
problems - finding the right hotel, getting
plugged in with internet in a new country,
currency exchange, landing at a tourist spot in
the wrong/crowded season, and so on.
While there are online startups that address each
of these many issues, the average traveler doesn’t
recognize the need for these services until they
are too late.
A travel agent may however bring together all
these different services under one roof. A tour
package that includes all these value-added
services to clients is likely to retain and grow
their business.
TAs may also look at expanding their offering to
include exotic and unexplored holiday
destinations that are not part of the average
holiday experience today. The idea is to create
value that a traveler does not get with traditional
OTAs and market that offering.
The challenge here, however, is that if there is
business potential to something, competition
swoops in. Adding new value to your offering
thus needs to be a continuous process.
The future is technology
In all likelihood, the travel agent business is not
going away anytime soon. But agents who fail to
update themselves with modern tech may see
their business fade away. The future of the travel
agency business lies with providing value that
technology cannot offer by itself. Consulting and
value addition are areas that are likely to grow
over the next decade. Mobile technology is
increasingly relevant for selling a journey, but
it’s also the best channel for businesses to create
the unique personal experience that future
travelers expect. The advent of Web in the mid-
2000s resulted in another sea change for the
travel industry. Social media, blogs and online
discussion groups resulted in an unprecedented
sharing of information between consumers.
Individuals began sharing reviews of their travel
experiences with others. As a result, travelers
became more aware of destinations and what to
expect.
In brief, the above changes are not costing too
much, most of them can be revolutionized by
using your own sources which are available free
of cost. How to adopt and implement them are
your concern but please keep in mind that unless
you are not following this pattern of business,
you be prepared to out from this business soon,
therefore, it’s the “Mantra’s” advise to all that
began to make use of these tools and be in the
forefront of technological advancements in your
travel offices to swim with the current trend.
Compiled and prepared by Mantra
Make the right intention
Beginning right now, make an intention that this
Ramadan will be a time of great spiritual effort
and sincerity. To help turn that intention into
reality, make checklists of both daily goals for
Ramadan (read a section of Quran or a beneficial
lecture every day, etc.) and goals for the overall
month (visit a home for the elderly, invite two non
-Muslim friends for a chance to experience iftar,
etc.).
Increase Quran recitation
Many people aim to do a complete reading of the
Quran at least once during Ramadan. If you don’t
have a habit of reading the Quran daily, take this
as an opportunity to incorporate that habit into
your life. This will enable you to read longer
sections of the book during Ramadan. Even if
doing a complete reading of the Quran during
Ramadan is too difficult, making a habit of
reading one page or even a few verses a day will
bring many blessings during the holy month and
afterwards, as the Prophet (pbuh) said.
Perform extra prayers
If you have no missed obligatory prayers to make
up, start to pray voluntary sunna prayers to
prepare yourself for the extra prayers that take
place in Ramadan. If you do have missed
obligatory prayers, use the time you would give to
the sunna prayers to make some of them up. Don’t
feel that you are missing out on the opportunity to
do voluntary sunnas, because God says in the
famous Hadith Jibreel, “My servant draws near to
Me by nothing more beloved to Me than that
which I have made obligatory on him.”
Give charity
Use the weeks leading up to Ramadan to increase
your acts of charity, be that in the form of giving
money to needy people or worthy causes. These
could be anything from sponsoring a Syrian
refugee family, to supporting scholars and
students of sacred knowledge through
SeekersHub’s #SpreadLight campaign. Giving
charity is a way to purify your wealth, and you
can enter the month of Ramadan in a greater state
of purity.
Focus on your character
Imam al-Ghazali discusses the inner dimensions
of the fast in his Revival of the Religious
Sciences, which you can observe before Ramadan
arrives. He mentioned that one must learn to fast
with all the limbs, from all that harms the heart. .
The inner fast is among the most important
aspects of fasting Ramadan and is often more
difficult than the physical fast from food, water
and relations, so the earlier you begin to practice
this, the better.
News Courtesy : www.seekersguidance.org
The changing face of the travel agency business
Prepare for Ramadan
© Caesars Travel Group www.caesarstravel.com
January - March Page 3
Tourism highlights
T ravelers in 2019 see a series of exciting
trends—thanks to changing consumer
behavior and an emphasis on wellness. For those
wondering what will be in store for next year,
here are some of the top predictions shared by
industry experts.
Mini vacations
Planning a big, extended vacation can be
extremely stressful. This is why “travelers are
ditching weeklong summer vacations in favor of
shorter, more frequent breaks,” said Loes
Daniels, Founder of Flightgiftcard and Hotelgift.
The rise of “serial short breakers” means more
business for local economies, especially when
more people opt for staycations in “more unusual
accommodation options such as yurts, pods and
Airstreams.”
WHAT TO TRY: According to Klook, a
world leading travel activities booking platform
with more than800 experts in 16 global offices,
there are ways to make a short break (or stay-
cation) more meaningful. Try a Backstreet
Walking Tour of Kowloon’s Mong Kok district
in Hong Kong for an enticing look at the vibrant
street markets and local delicacies, or check out
the bird parks and butterfly gardens in a Half Day
Tour of The Serene Gardens in Kuala Lumpur.
Insta-holidays
Like it or not, travel business is increasingly
driven by a location’s Instagram-ability,
according to Daniels. In a survey conducted by
UK company Schofields, more than 40% of
respondents under 33 consider
“Instagrammability” the most important factor in
choosing their holiday destination. Whether it is
art-driven experiences such as Art Basel or
beautiful locations that are snapshot-worthy,
2019 sees more social media-inspired tourism.
WHAT TO TRY: Setouchi Art Triennale 2019—
a unique art festival held over a dozen islands in
the Seto Inland Sea featuring more than 150
international artists; a trip to the Kintamani
Jungle Swing in Bali with stunning landscape; or
a Private Photo Shoot Experience in Phuket with
your own professional photographer.
Driven by wellness
Wellness tourism is expected to grow more
rapidly in the next few years—with the Global
Wellness Institute projecting it to grow twice as
fast as general tourism and reach $919 billion in
2022 from the $639 billion in 2017. From fitness-
centric resorts and hotels with holistic spas to
natural immersion getaways, these travel
experience are geared to leave you rejuvenated
and equipped with the techniques for a better
lifestyle.
WHAT TO TRY: Go for a wellness
getaway Aloft Miami Aventura, which has
everything including weekly music events, pet
programming, partnerships with Barry's Boot
Camp, specialized crafted cocktails, and elevated
pool deck; have an unforgettable trip fishing
above the reef, scuba diving and snorkeling along
the reef at Alaia Belize; or visit The Mandrake in
London's Fitzrovia, which boasts a Spiritual
Wellbeing Programme with regular Gong Baths,
special guest sessions from Nordic Shamanic Fire
Ceremonies, Lucid Dreaming Sleepovers and
Arcturus Quantum Heart Activation Healing.
“B-leisure” trips
Forget business trips. One of the key rising trends
in 2019 is “bleisure” travel, which sees people
mixing business with leisure. According to a
recent survey by Avis Car Rental, 87% of
business travelers say that they are likely to mix
business and leisure on the same trip. This is
hardly surprising, considering that 92% of
respondents admit to doing some work on
dedicated leisure vacations, while 56% of
travelers with children are likely to include the
family on business trips. As a result, “the line
between a business trip and a leisure vacation is
increasingly blurry,” noted Beth Gibson,
Experiential Travel Expert at Avis, with
“business travel more often [involving] high-end
amenities in desirable locations.”
WHAT TO TRY: Visit the brand new PuXuan
Hotel and Spa adjacent to the Forbidden City—
centrally located in Beijing’s main commercial
and shopping district; or go to the Dolce
CampoReal Lisboa—a business hotel-slash-resort
that offers 23 event rooms, an 18-hole golf
course, plus a nearby equestrian center.
News Courtesy : www.forbes.com
The 4 Biggest Travel Trends For 2019
© Caesars Travel Group www.caesarstravel.com
January - March Page 4
The Company Album Arabian Travel Market is the global meeting place for the travel trade
By Maneka Varghese
A rabian Travel Market is the market leading, international travel and tourism event
unlocking business potential within the Middle East for inbound and outbound tourism professionals. Tourism destinations from around the world showcase a diverse range of accommodation options, breathtaking tourism attractions, travel technology and key airline routes.
Arabian Travel Market is the leading global event for the Middle East inbound and outbound travel industry. The must-attend business-to-business (B2B) event provides a professional platform for UAE, Middle East and international buyers and suppliers to meet and network. Through its industry networks, global reach and regional focus, ATM creates personal and business opportunities, providing our customers with quality contacts, content and communities.
ATM 2018 attracted almost 40,000 industry professionals, with representation from 141 countries over the four days as per the studies. The 25th edition of ATM annual business-to-business (B2B) exhibition showcased over 2,800 products and destinations from around the world to over 28,000 buyers and travel trade visitors across four days companies across 12 halls at Dubai World Trade Centre exhibiting. Arabian Travel Market 2019 had taken place in Dubai from Sunday, 28th April to Wednesday, 1st May 2019.
The event had showcased over 30 travel and hospitality exhibitors and technical experts from both regional and international destinations who had been offering a wide range of attractive travel information’s, technical information’s and tourism facilities for consumers who attended the show.
Although this year the footfall for ATM was less compared to the previous years, we could see very keen and refined professional crowd with bunches of knowledge. Online Travel has boomed so much in the GCC region as there was lots of talk shows and group discussions on the same. The research heads of SABRE, Travelport, Google, FaceBook and many
topnotch management personal of airline divisions, had passed on their knowledge and information’s which they have gained through their experiences over the years. SEO and social media marketing technology studies was an interesting topic, which was discussed by the experts. Talking to the experts face to face had helped us in learning about a range of emerging and unexplored technologies and activities which is going to be our future like Ebook, AR, VR, Chatbots & AI.
The technologies and studies over there had conveyed a vital fact that the travel industry is evolving and technology had captivated/conquered the same. It’s all in your finger tips, you can attain whatever you want sitting wherever you are. AR, VR & chatbots had intruded into human daily routines. And the surprising factor is that all these are getting boomed in the Middle East region than anywhere in this world. And majority of the travelers originates from this region as per studies. NDC is still the talk of the town, but the industry appears to be overcoming the initial NDC teething troubles, almost all the GDS, technology partners and airlines have became NDC compatible. Conversational travel agents and OTA’s can now look forward to taking advantage of some real tangible benefits.
Now whole industry is around the tech table talking about ways to ensure that they continue to make the experience of managing and buying travel continually better. Changes are inevitable, so we as in hospitality industry must work together to ensure that the technical solutions we build and deploy today resolve challenges and provide a better experience to meet the travelers or customers needs and expectations for decades to come.
ATM Holiday Shopper is the brand new travel event for consumers offering the very best travel and tourism discounts and deals plus the chance to learn about a range of emerging and unexplored destinations and activities from destinations around the world. Studies had been increasingly indicating that majority of outbound travel from the GCC countries is taking place during summer as travelers actively seeks cooler climates. European countries as well as destinations such as Georgia, Serbia, Azerbaijan and Thailand have been cited as some of the most popular destinations for GCC residents.
The event had featured a number of talks and presentations designed to provide travelers with an in-depth knowledge on a range of travel destinations and tour packages that cover all major attractions within any one country - as well as information on visa compliance and travel insurance.
Attendees can immerse themselves in faraway cultures with VR activations and enjoy a range of family entertainment throughout the day including cultural displays, theme park characters to meet, calligraphy, henna and falconry amongst many other activities.
ATM Holiday Shopper was a great addition to ATM 2019 and they look forward to
welcome consumers with a range of attractive discounts and incentives as well as providing a complete overview of some of the world’s leading travel destinations.
“Travelers today do not want to be part of the crowd – they crave new destinations to explore which offer unique experiences, personalized to their tastes and expectations”- according to research published by Colliers International.
Cruise Center won Sales Ambassador 2018 Award of Royal Caribbean
C ruise Center By Caesars Holidays, honored at Royal Caribbean International’s event at
Spectrum of the Seas with “Sales Ambassador 2018 “Award.
The event was held at the Quantum Ultra Class ship, Spectrum of the Seas , with a familiarization tour of the ship for trade & media partners from the region followed by evening onboard entertainment and dinner.
Photo: Thomas Sebastian and Bijoy John from Cruise Center, Receiving the Award from Mr. Andrew Gomes, Sr. Manager Royal Caribbean.
Mr. Sajeesh Kumar, Ms. Maneka Varghese and Mr. Anoop at ATM
© Caesars Travel Group www.caesarstravel.com
January - March Page 5
The Loyalty Effect: Hidden Force behind the growth of Caesars Travel Group (An interaction with a Senior Staff)
HOW YOU CAN BE A PART OF “expressions”
By sending your submissions to “expressions” newsletter, including articles, photographs, aviation updates, personal information which can be released in our newsletter, etc. The next issue will be out in July 2019. Please send us your article or similar texts as soon as you can and it should reach us on or before 15th June, 2019. The contribution Articles should be submitted in Word format. All articles which are selected for publication will be proof read for content, spelling and grammatical errors. Also please note that it is not mandatory that these articles will be published in “expressions” newsletter as it is strictly subject to screening before publishing. Furthermore, we may make minor editorial changes or correct spelling mistakes. To establish the identity of the authors, your name will be published with your article.
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The Editor
“expressions” Newsletter
Caesars Travel Group
Al-Nafisi Tower, Abdulla Al-Mubarak Street
E-mail: [email protected]
L oyal employees are always an asset for our
company. In this edition, we would like to
spare an interactive session with one of our very
senior staff, Mr. Aries Garcera, Branch Manager
- Caesars Travel Group, who led a way to
different developmental activities of our
organization.
As a first question, would like to know about
your educational & professional background?
Basically I am a Computer Science graduate,
from Philippine Christian University. That was in
2002, at that time my brother was in Kuwait and
he introduced me to Caesars to get the job.
Your study stream is IT, then what makes you
passionate to travel domain?
While searching a suitable job I found difficult to
get in my graduate stream and my brother
advised me to get into travel. Basically Filipinos
love travel, and I found it’s good to get into the
same field and to know more about the industry.
How was your first job experience in this
travel domain?
As I mentioned earlier, I fled to Kuwait after my
studies, and I got opportunity to join Caesars as
reservation officer. I started my career with
Caesars and it is my 15th year with Caesars.
After all you are IT graduate, then how you
managed to work in travel field?
It was really a challenge for me at the beginning
as I don’t know about travel and its totally a
different stream. However, while getting into the
system I could manage to learn the commands on
GDS system because of my graduation basics. I
was too much familiar with computers and
coding pattern, which helped a lot to learn the
basics of GDS commands.
As your first employer in Kuwait, what was
your experience with Caesars?
To be frank, initially it was very difficult for me
to get into the stream as it was not my subject. I
learnt myself about all these commands with help
of manual and training from GDS team. Support
from my colleagues were less initially as they
were very busy on their routines. Still I managed
to overcome the situation and did my level best
to get more business.
How is your experience with our company,
better you can share your likes and dislikes?
Initially it was tough for me to handle things as I
mentioned, it was all new to me. Slowly I
attained my pace and now I feel very comfortable
in all means with our company. Now I am in
reputed position and Caesars management
encouraged me to attain this position and career.
What is your major achievements and
contributions to our company till date?
To be frank my contributions are my hard work. I
joined Caesars as a reservation officer with
limited knowledge about the stream and now I
am holding the position of Branch Manager.
Management provided me a good platform to
grow in all means based on my skills and
dedication. At initial stage management provided
me a “Corner” for handling my regional
passengers in head office and later it got
transformed as a branch called “Kabayan
Corner” under my supervision.
Travel market is getting more competitive, as
a manager what is your plan or idea to lift our
company to top?
We all admit that fact saying it’s competitive, but
we can do things differently that will attract more
customers. In my perspective, we are lacking the
presence of online as our competitors are already
in online with advanced techniques. We should
start our online presence at the earliest as it is
already very late compared to our competitors.
Last but not least, who is your role model and
what is your dream?
My role model is Mr. Suresh, Manager of
Caesars City Office. He is a very good
personality with a good smile always. Sometimes
I got surprised the way he handling very
complicated things with a pleasant smile. He is
very much supportive and I admire his character.
Aries Garcera - Branch Manager - Kabayan Corner - Caesars Travel Group
